Letters

Feminism, fashion and the rising tide of raunch

I am afraid that Kate Taylor's article completely misses the point (Today's ultimate feminists are the chicks in crop-tops, March 23). Most modern feminists are not against women expressing themselves through, and enjoying their bodies by, wearing skimpy outfits. Our problem is with the way women's bodies are mainly represented in the media in "sexualised" form. We are particularly concerned with the message this sends to children and teenagers.

The naked human body is beautiful but I am concerned that as long as we focus on the naked body in a solely sexual way, we are creating an environment which will eventually damage human society rather than enrich it.

My beef therefore is not with women like Abi Titmus, but with the (many female) editors and the marketers who use sex to sell - regardless of the impact on children who see their newspapers and magazines. I would like to see Taylor defend the idea of using sex to sell, rather than have yet another go at feminists, who get very little positive press these days despite having some very valid concerns about the effect on children and adults of the sexualised media representation of women.Jessica Symonsthinkingwomen.org

Kate Taylor is right. Feminists shouldn't lecture. But when you're faced with the breathtaking naivety of her thinking, it's hard not to. Taylor's idea is that women can do whatever they like and then dress it up (in a thong, maybe, or perhaps a crop-top?) as feminism is nonsense.

If you want to be a feminist, you need to take heed of other women - in this country and elsewhere - whose circumstances may be radically different to your own. Some women may choose to embrace so-called raunch culture; that's their prerogative - it's a simple matter of civil liberties. But don't try and suggest this is, in itself, feminist. Don't pretend it empowers other women. Don't pretend it advances anyone's interests except their own.Nicola GodwinLondon

The disappointment with which I read Kate Taylor's searing contribution to the debate on the current state of feminism caused me to smudge my mascara slightly as I attempted to iron out the rage-induced eye twitch that her advocacy of slave morality induced. That in the 21st century the idea that wearing a thong with the aim of allowing "men in the office [to] waste an entire afternoon staring at your bottom" represents a mainstream view on female emancipation must depress women who would not consider themselves feminists, let alone those shouty unfeminine ones.

However, some of us think that the tired argument that it is the men being exploited because of their insatiable urge for female flesh is the oldest excuse for objectification, sexual assault and overall abdication of personal responsibility since Adam shrugged his shoulders in the Garden of Eden. Some of us think that the reason we aren't "great at working together" is because of articles such as Taylor's, which encourages the view that all women are in competition with each other for the attention of "wolf-whistling builders".Sadie SmithGreenford, Middx

While Kate Taylor is right that a thong-wearing, Playboy-T-shirted woman has as much right to be "her own, specific self" as the woman who rejects "raunch culture", her claim that "true feminism should celebrate femininity, and make you feel wonderful to be born a woman" seems somewhat presumptuous. Is "femininity" really such an essential part of being female?

Far from automatically denigrating any woman who engages with "the old-fashioned notion of being seen as a sex object", many feminists would simply prefer to make it clear that "femininity", as we know it, is a performance. For some, such performance can sometimes be fun, but presenting it as the very essence of femininity is misleading and restricting.Holly CombeFeminists Against Censorship

Kate Taylor argues that women are not exploited by the kind of photos which regularly appear in lad's mags because the women who feature in them are well paid for removing their clothes. This misses the point entirely. That individual models may be making good money by posing naked does nothing to alter the fact that such images reinforce the notion of women as sex objects to be judged on their physical appearance.

The ubiquity of such images suggests that, while great gains have been made, true equality of the sexes is still to be achieved. The kind of arguments promoted by Taylor risk taking society back to the 1950s, when all women had to worry about was looking pretty for their menfolk. Perhaps she should be a little more worried about empowerment and a little less concerned with fashion.MJ ClarkKing's College, Cambridge

There are a few cultural myths Kate Taylor draws upon in her article. One is that women are equal here, but it's in other places that women are still oppressed. Really? So why are two women every week killed by their partner in Britain? Why are almost 50% of women in Britain survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence or stalking?Darlene CorryLondon

Given that we live in such a gender-equitable society, how strange that, in February, the UK Women and Work Commission found that females in full-time employment earned 17% less than men. Meanwhile, the Office of National Statistics reports that women still undertake double the amount of household chores than your average man.Leila BillingLondon